Digimon: Dark Prophecy
by Bitter Grace
Summary: Where once there was only the Digidestined come striding the Digidark. AU.
1. Promises

**Author's Note**: Contained within this fanfic are things that society deems unsuitable for younger readers. While I do not believe that society is always right, and that censorship can sometimes get out of hand, I will bow to their wishes and inform you that this fanfic contains language that is deemed unsuitable for all you younger readers. There is also implied domestic violence throughout the story. 

**RATED**: 14-A for content, language and implied violence.

**Thanks Go Out To**: whoever it was that fixed my computer for me, the gods bless you forever. I started this story on paper, and it took me three days to get the first part done. THREE DAYS! Can you believe it? Less than three hours with the trusty keyboard. 

**Standardized Disclaimer**: Digimon doesn't belong to me, it belongs to someone else. I probably should know who, considering I'm borrowing the majority of their characters, but right now I'm just too lazy to go and find out. But I'm sure that they have nasty lawyers who eat poor students like me for breakfast, so I have to say that nothing contained in this story is mine, except for the following: the whole idea; the entire plotline; the characters of Kotanga Makoto, Kumori Koden, Kumori Kenji and Kumori Marisota, et cetera. As well, the song I used, "Good" belongs to Better than Ezra, and not me. (Just in case someone important stumbles over this fic.)

**Another Note**: Yamato Ishida's father (who I named Kage) actually does exist in the Digimon anime -- I have no idea if that was his name or not, or even if he has a name. I just had to name him something. (I wasn't going to originally, but I just got sick of typing "Matt's father" all the time.)

**To You Who Will Speak**: As always, comments and criticisms will be accepted graciously. Flamings and messages with the words "You suck at writing"contained anywhere within them will line the digital trash can quite nicely. If you're thinking about flaming, don't waste your time. I won't read it. ^.^* Sorry, but that's how it goes.

Hai, enough. Read on.

------------------------------------  


**Digimon - Dark Prophecy Prologue: Promises **

** **** **  
_looking arund the house  
hidden behind the windows and the doors  
searching for signs of life  
but there's nobody home_

Fifteen year old Koden Kumori, Kodi to her friends, curled her body into as small a ball as she could in the confines of the crawlspace under the stairs. It was almost funny, how much like a five year old she felt, scared into sleeplessness by the bogeymen that haunted the closets of kids in the night. However, in her case, things were a little different. Her bogeymen was real, haunted the house and her life, and wasn't restricted to the realm of night.   
Dimly, from outside the hidden door to the cramped two-by-six area, Kodi could hear her parents screaming at each other; her father in drunkenness and rage, her mother in pain and fear. Idly, she closed her golden eyes and tried to will the world away, to let another reality come and sweep her up in soft, gentle arms and carry her off to somewhere far away from her house, like she sometimes dreamed.   
Reality intruded once again just as she began to drift off into the recesses of her mind, her father's heavy footsteps approaching the stairs. His voice boomed loud and cruel, and far too close for Kodi's comfort. "Where is that stupid little bitch, Mari?" he shouted, his words slurred by the cheap American vodka he loved to drink. "Where is that little whore, that slut you call a daughter?"   
Lighter footsteps -- those of her mother -- scurried close. "She went out, Ken," Mari said, and Kodi could almost see the lines of pain and weariness creasing her mother's face, hear the fear painting her words. "Yamato called and asked her to go to a movie with himself and some of his friends. I gave her permission to go."   
A sickening slap reverberated down into under the stairs, and her mother cried out in sudden pain. "Who do you think you are, woman, you stupid cow, you fucking leech, that you can take a position of authority in my house?" Kenji screamed in outrage. "I am the man in this house! Maybe the last lesson I gave you didn't clarify that point! Maybe you need another lesson! Is that it, Mari?"   
"No, Ken. I....I....didn't mean anything by it!" More sounds of knuckles hitting flesh. "Stop it, Kenji. Please stop it." There were tears choking her mother's voice now. Despite her better judgement, Kodi wanted to do nothing but jump out of the crawl way and beat the living shit out of her father. But her mother's voice echoed as her cowardice reasserted itself. _ Be quiet, Kodi. Remember how I taught you? When your father comes home, hide in here, in this crawl way, and don't make a single sound. Can you do that for Mama, Kodi, my sweet baby, my precious thing?_ The words were several years old, but Kodi still followed their advice by heart.   
Silent tears tracked down her cheeks as she buried her head in her arms and listened against her will to the sounds of her mother being beaten. It never got any easier, never. Just like Kodi could never summon up enough courage to face her father and help her mother. _I'm sorry Mama!I'm sorry I can't help you. I'm so so sorry......_   
There was a last thud, this one heavier than the rest, and a body fell somewhere in the general vicinity of the top of the staircase. "Ken! Ken, please, let me be!" Mari cried, this time from the top of the stairs, where she must have run to escape the wrath of her husband.   
"Take it like the man you want to be, Mari!" Kenji screamed, and hit her one final time.   
There was a long scream that cut off suddenly as something heavy hit the stairs one by one. "That'll teach you to do my job here in the house, woman," her father said as her mother's body hit the last stair with a thick crunch. Heavy footsteps pounded the floor above her head and the front door slammed. Silence descended on the house once again.   
Kodi didn't move for a very long time, afraid her father was in the mind to trick her into coming out of hiding, regardless of the fact that her mother had told him she'd gone out. When the smell of cloying, biting vodka started to dissipate, she had to admit to herself that her father had truly gone out of the house, because when he was drinking -- which was an everyday occurrence in the Kumori house -- she could always smell him before she saw him.   
After she left the confines of the crawlspace, and stretched the kinks out of her back and neck, she noticed her mother lying in an undignified, uncomfortable looking heap at the foot of the stairs. "Mama?" Kodi whispered, creeping closer and laying a hand on her mother's shoulder. "C'mon Mama, get up. Ken is gone, so it's safe." Her mother made no reply, just continued to lie there, staring blankly at the tiled ceiling, her arms splayed randomly on either side of her head. Spittle clung to her lips, and her neck looked to be bent at the most awkward angle.   
Kodi gently shook her mother's shoulder. "Mama?" Panic started to lace into her tone as she realized exactly why her mother refused to move. She was shaking now as her hands continue to jostle the body. "Mama? MAMA!!!" 

** **  
_well maybe i'm just too sure  
or maybe i'm just too frightened by the sound of it  
pieces of note falls down  
but the letter said_

The phone was ringing when Yamato Ishida returned home from school. He shrugged out of his book bag and ran for the nearest receiver. Maybe it was Kodi. She hadn't been in school today, and he was afraid something had happened to her, that maybe her father had gone too far this time, and killed her.   
"Hello?" he asked a little breathlessly.   
"Good afternoon, sir. I'm calling from Carpet World, and I was wondering if I could have a few moments of your time to discuss our new cleaning sale."   
"Sorry, all our floors are parquet," he said curtly, and hung up on the woman. Sighing, he slid to the floor, working his shoes off his feet. "Where are you, Kodi?" he worried out loud. and ran a hand through his spiky, sandy blond hair. He looked up when the doorknob turned, and he got the sudden, sure idea that it was Kodi, even though she always knocked before she came in.   
"Matt? Are you home yet?"   
He frowned. "Yeah Dad, I'm right here." He rounded the corner and raised a hand in greeting. "You're home early," he remarked.   
Kage Ishida shrugged casually as he hung his coat up on the rack by the door. "I went in early this morning, so I left early this afternoon." He turned and hesitated once he saw the look on his son's face. "What's wrong, Matt?"   
"Kodi wasn't in school today, and I'm worried about her. I'm afraid her father did something to her. I told you what an asshole he is to her and her mother."   
"Matt!"   
"Well he is. If you ever met him, you'd agree." Matt's blue eyes took on a faraway expression. "I only met him once, when I was walking Kodi home from school last year. Her old man is a drunk and a violent man, not to mention crude and unreasonable. He actually called Kodi a whore right in front of me, and asked her....." A fierce blush stained his cheeks, but he continued. "He actually asked her how much I was paying her a night, and said that it looked like I couldn't afford to pay as much as some of his friends could." Matt shook his head. "He beats both of them too. I saw bruises on Kodi on more than one occasion. All accidents around the house to anyone that asks, but she knows I know better, and she told me the truth."   
Matt's anger was mirrored in his father's face. "Unthinkable!" he exclaimed. "A man like that doesn't deserve to have children." His face softened, though still showed traces of furious red. "Kodi's such a sweet child. She deserves better, if what you're telling me is true." He looked thoughtful. "Hmm...I do have some friends in Child Services and Welfare. Maybe I could talk to them..."   
Before Matt could answer, there was a rapid, business-like knock at the front door. Kage frowned. "I'm not expecting any company. Are you, Matt?" At his son's negative answer, he walked back to the door and pulled it open just as the doorbell pealed. "Kotanga Makoto!" he exclaimed in surprise. "What brings you to my door?"   
"Business, I'm afraid. Bad business," the tall, blonde policewoman replied with a sigh. "May we come in?"   
"We?"   
"I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Ishida," a quieter voice said from just beyond Makoto, and Matt's heart leapt.   
"Kodi!" he cried. Grasping the door from his father's hand, he flung it wider. "Angel Eyes? Are you okay?"   
The pale girl on the porch gasped, closed her eyes and blindly ran into his arms, tears coursing freely down her cheeks. "Oh, Matt," she sobbed. "I was so afraid. I couldn't help her...I didn't even try! I know he's going to want to kill me too..."   
Makoto scratched her head, perplexed, as she eyed the sobbing Kodi being led into a room off the main hall with the gentle arms of Matt. "Kage, she spent the majority of today giving us statement after statement, being examined by the staff doctor, giving evidence, identifying the body, and through it all, she'd been a real, dry-eyed trooper. She takes one look at Yamato, and bursts into tears." She smiled with a little real humor. "I told you your son would have that effect on girls if he wasn't careful."   
Kage didn't laugh. "Oddly enough, Matt and I were discussing Kodi and her family life just before you knocked, and I can't say that I like anything he told me. Kodi doesn't deserve that kind of father," he said in a half-snarl. He blew out in frustration. "I need caffeine. Would you care to join me in the kitchen, Mako?"   
She nodded gratefully, following his lead into the depths of the house. "I could use a cup of tea, if you don't mind, Kage," she told him.   
In the kitchen, Kage busied himself with putting on the kettle and grabbing two clean mugs from the dishwasher. "What happened?" he asked abruptly.   
Makoto sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It's bad, Kage," she said quietly. "A neighbour called in, really irate, reporting a disturbance of the peace. When we got there, Koden was kneeling over her mother's body, shaking her and begging for her to get up, it's finally safe. The whole house was a shambles, broken dishes and old bottles shattered. The bannister on the stairs was broken. Mari Kumori was at the bottom of the flight of stairs, lying in a heap, with a broken neck. She had bruises and old injuries that never healed properly because they were never given a chance. Fresh cuts, old scars, you name the injury. This woman had it."   
"Jesus. What about Kodi? Is she alright?"   
"Physically? Yes. The bastard didn't lay a hand on her. He didn't even know she was in the house at the time. Apparently, her mother managed to keep her husband in the dark about a small crawlspace under the stairs, which is where Koden hid most of the time her father was on a rampage. This time around, Mari told her husband that your son had called Koden, and asked if she wanted to go see a movie with a bunch of his friends, and she was given permission to go out." Makoto sighed again. "According to Koden, that's what set the bastard off this time, Mari taking anything that resembled a position of authority in 'his' house."   
"Physically. What about emotionally?"   
Makoto's only answer was to purse her lips and shake her head sadly.   
A curse hissed out from Kage's lips, and Makoto blanched. Kage made an effort to calm himself, and switched the topic to something less touchy. "Not that I mind in the slightest, Mako," he said. "But why bring Kodi here? Why not to Child Services?"   
"We've petitioned for and received a restraining order against her father. She asked specifically if I could bring her here. She said that she'd rather trust you and Matt to protect her rather than some stranger who wouldn't care two figs about whether her father sees her or not." A sly look then. "Plus I think she has a crush on Matt."   
"Come on, Mako. The kids are best friends, and they have been since the second grade. And of course she can stay here. She can stay here as long as she wants. At least here, maybe, she can feel safe." 

** **  
_aha, it was good living with you  
aha, it was good  
aha, it was good living with you  
aha, it was good_

  
Kodi had worn herself out from crying and talking, and had fallen asleep, her face flushed and tearstreaked. She lay sprawled across Matt's chest, one cheek pressed trustingly against his shoulder. Matt rose from the couch, cautiously shifted the slumbering girl so as not to wake her, and thanking all his gods that Kodi was safe and whole. A cold rage burned within him as he thought of Kodi's mother, Mari. A kind, generous woman who's disposition her daughter had inherited, she had always been ready with a smile and a thoughtful word to both her daughter and her daughter's best friend. She hadn't deserved to die for her husband's amusement.   
Matt crept out of the den and into the kitchen, following the sound of the voices. He went straight to the fridge and hauled out a bottle of soda, guzzling it down blindly. Kage and Makoto, their conversation having paused at his abrupt entrance, watched him and noted his anger. "How is Kodi?" Makoto asked quietly.   
"Asleep right now," Matt replied, closing the fridge with his foot, then leaning against the door, the bottle still in his hands. "She cried until she passed out. She knows she did the right thing in talking to the police, but she's still afraid that Kenji is going to come after her. I can't say that I blame her. The bastard did kill her mother."   
Kage hesitated, and curled his hands around his cup, staring into the caffeine- laced liquid as if it contained the secrets to life's great mysteries. "How do you feel about Kodi staying with us?"   
"For how long?"   
A shrug. "As long as she wants. Indefinitely."   
"I don't see a problem with it. Kodi is my best friend. Why?"   
Kage gestured to Makoto to explain. The sandy-haired policewoman smiled and twisted in her chair to face Matt. "In her will, Marisota Kumori named your father legal guardian of Kodi if something happened to her. Normally, the child would be given to the other parent if they still lived, or a close relative. However, there is no one to take her, not even a distant cousin. And with her father facing charges for the aggravated assault, battery, and murder of his wife, it wouldn't be feasible to let Kenji Kumori take Koden."   
"I should hope not," Kage rumbled as he drank a mouthful of coffee. "The man is an animal. He should be taken out and shot like a rabid dog."   
Makoto sobered. "Hai," she agreed thoughtfully, remembering all the broken bones and bruises that poor woman had had. She shuddered to think that, if Kodi hadn't stayed hidden, the police department might have had a double homicide on their overworked, underpaid hands. 

** **  
_sitting around the house  
watching the sun trace shadows on the floor  
earching for signs of life, but there's nobody home_

  
When Matt returned to the den with a blanket and some food piled onto a tray, Kodi was still curled up on the couch, her head pillowed against an armrest. Her eyes tracked Matt's progress into the room even before he knew she was awake. "Hey there, Trouble," she said softly, but with a smile. Matt smiled. She'd been calling him that since grade two, when one of his teachers had said he was nothing but trouble.   
_"Trouble? That's a funny name. Is that what your parents called you?"   
"No, my name is Matt. Who are you?"   
A giggle. "You're always in trouble, so I'm going to call you Trouble, so you'd better get used to it. My name's Kodi. Will you be my friend?"   
"Sure."   
"Promise?"   
"Yeah. Promise."_   
"Hey yourself, Angel Eyes," Matt answered with the fond name he often called her by, although not in the presence of any of the guys from school. He set the tray on the coffee table before sitting beside her and taking a cold, trembling hand in his. Again, icy anger grew inside him. From that shy, but friendly little girl, Kodi had grown fearful, wan and pale, afraid to have too many friends who might hurt her. And it was all the fault of Kenji Kumori.   
"I'm sorry, Matt," she said quietly, fiddling with the hem of her shirt and not meeting his eyes. "I...didn't mean to collapse on you. It was just...I don't know....."   
He understood. It hurt to think that he was the only one she could trust. "It was just that you can trust me," he finished.   
A small smile, but she still didn't look up. "Yeah."   
"The cop that brought you here says that Mari indicated my Dad as your guardian in her will." He sat beside her and brushed a lock of hair off her forehead. "Dad knew nothing about it, but he says it's fine by him. You can live here with us if you want."   
"I don't want to be a burden on anyone," she whispered, interlacing her fingers nervously. "Mama shouldn't have done that without asking." She paled. "My fath....Kenji doesn't like you, Matt, and I'm afraid he'll come looking for me here. He won't like it."   
"He can try."_Let him. Just let him try._ "But Dad and I aren't just going to let him come and take you," Matt argued fiercely. "That's if the police don't catch him first. And you wouldn't be a burden, Angel. Dad already thinks he had a daughter living in the house, you were here so much. He doesn't mind at all."   
"Are you sure?"   
He nodded, feeling little guilt over deftly manipulating her into staying. Besides, it was all true. Even if it meant playing her sense of respect for his father against her. He just wanted her father to be as far away from her as possible. "You can talk to him about it if you'd like."   
She looked up at him then, and he was startled by how much pain and fear -- and hope -- she had in her eyes. "What about you, Matt?" she asked softly. "Do _you_ want me here? I...We've been friends for years, but sometimes you're really hard to read, and I'm not sure at all."   
"Kodi, you're my best friend, and you have been since the day we met." He reached out and gently scrubbed at a tear slowly trekking its way down her cheek. "You know me. If I didn't want you around, I would have told you so long ago. Don't worry so much about it."   
"You didn't answer my question, Matt."   
Suddenly he was mad. "Of course I want you here!" he burst out, and she flinched. Immediately, he reined in his temper and pulled her into a tight hug. "How could you think that I wouldn't? Kodi, you're my best friend, and you.....mean a lot to me."   
She was still hesitant, he could read it from the tension in her shoulders. "Promise?" she asked in a trembling voice, and once again he was reminded of that time seven years ago, when he had promised to be the friend of a lonely little girl who insisted, even to this day, of calling him Trouble.   
"Promise," he replied solemnly, loosening his grasp. She tipped her face to meet his eyes.   
Her topaz eyes were shining, and a real smile, one of the first to cross her face in a long long time, curved her lips. "Good," she said softly. "Good." 

** **  
_well, maybe I'll call or write you a letter  
now, maybe we'll see on the fourth of july  
but I'm not too sure, and I'm not too proud  
well, I'm not too sure and I'm not too proud to say_

"Goodbye kids! Have fun!"   
"Be careful T.K.!"   
"Later, Joe!"   
"Bring back something nice for your sister, Taichi!"   
Kodi looked at the bags at her feet, then back at the bus. Bags, bus, bags, bus. Inside, the cowardice was creeping up on her again. She wasn't sure if she wanted to do this after all, leave the safety of the apartment for the uncertainty of camp life. No, she'd stay with Kage in the apartment, and she'd be safe from everything.   
"Are you going to get on the bus, Angel, or are you just going to stare at your feet all day?"   
"Coming, Trouble!" she sang out, quelling the coward in her, and picking up her bags. She ignored the part of her that wanted to run and hide. Besides, Kage had already paid the fees to send both herself and Matt to summer camp. After all he'd done for her, she could at least show her appreciation by enjoying herself, away from her mother's death, away from her father's trial, away from everything.   
She looked back, and saw Kage there, seeing them off as he had promised he would. Impulsively, she ran back and gave him a quick hug. "Thank you, Kage," she murmured, and dimly heard his "It's not a problem, Kodi," before she released him and ran back to the bus.   
"Bye Mom! Bye Dad! Bye Kari, hope you feel better!" shouted a wild-haired brunet seated in front of Kodi. He waved to a couple who were standing with a small child of about ten until the bus started moving, then leaned over the back of the seat. "Hi," he said with a wink at Kodi. "I know Matt, but I don't think I've met you. My name's Tai." 

** **  
_yeah, you were so good  
yeah you were so good  
yeah that's right..._

************** E-Mail the Author


	2. Prophecy

Chapter One: PROPHECY

_**...from the light to the dark, they will come  
the angel of rage their guide against their brethern  
the beast shall take hold and be their judge  
their cloak and their downfall  
friendship fails in the face of the dark ones**_

found inscribed in a tomb, server island 

"Snow? In the middle of June?"   
The sheer shock and astonishment in Tai's voice broke Kodi's concentration. In annoyance, she looked up from her novel and around to where a small group of her fellow campers sat eating from a picnic basket. It figured. She had been completely immersed in the plot line when Tai's incredulous shout had caught her attention. The brown-haired boy was staring up at the sky with an expression of wonder on his face, mouth agape like a fish out of water. Kodi shook her head. "Boys," she said in disgust. "They let their imaginations run wild. How can it be snowing? It's almost thirty degrees out here!" She smiled scornfully and was about to return her gaze to the book in her lap when she felt the first icy flake kiss her cheek.   
She froze, then lowered the book back into her lap. As she slowly raised her eyes to the sky, she heard delighted laughter rise from the throats of some of the other kids at the lakeside camp. Kodi's topaz eyes blinked several times before she could comprehend what she was seeing. Soft white flakes drifted down from a clear blue sky, sparkling with a myriad of tiny rainbows in the bright sunlight to land on the grass, the trees, the lakeshore and the ecstatic campers who rarely saw pure white snow in the city.   
"But there aren't even any clouds in the sky," she whispered faintly, leaning back against the rough bark of the tree, trying to understand. The trunk shuddered suddenly, and Kodi involuntarily glanced up to see Matt leaning there, arms crossed, staring upwards into the snow. "Hey Trouble. What's up?"   
"Pretty strange weather we're having," he commented almost absently.   
"Uh-huh. Where did the others go?"   
A faintly scornful smile curved his lips, and he slid down the trunk to sit beside Kodi, his knee touching hers. "Scattered. Joe decided he didn't want to freeze to death, and Mimi didn't want to get her hair wet. Izzy's computer managed to get one flake on it and he freaked. Something about electronics and water based particles..." He shook his head. "I didn't pretend to understand what he was saying. Sora and Tai took off to the lake, something about snowball soccer."   
He hadn't mentioned his brother, but then, that was like him. She hesitated before inquiring about his younger sibling; knowing him as well as she did, she knew he did love his brother, but because his mother had custody of TK and his father custody of him, he rarely saw TK and didn't know how to deal with him. "Where did TK go?"   
Matt shrugged. "He's somewhere," he said indifferently.   
Kodi let it lie, and a comfortable silence fell between them. She reached into her pocket and fingered the small gift she had picked up from the gift store in town the last trip. Before she could decide otherwise, she pulled out the small box and passed it to Matt.   
He looked surprised as he took it. "What's this for?" he asked.   
"Just open it," she mock-growled, watching as he pried up the lid to reveal a small silver harmonica. "I remember you always told me you wanted one of those things," she said hesitantly, doubt flaring in her voice. "I wasn't sure..."   
He surprised her with a real smile. "It's...it's great, Kodi," he murmured, then blew a few soft notes into the instrument. "I have always wanted one of these." He took her hand and smiled into her eyes. "Thank you."   
Kodi heard her heartbeat thud throughout her body   
At that moment, Tai ran by, ducked a snowball and tossed one back at Sora, who stood some distance away, laughing and brushing snow out of her hair. Deftly, he avoided tripping over Kodi's feet, which he noticed at the last minute, but went sprawling over Matt's. With a discordant squawk, the harmonica went flying from Matt's hands to land in the light snowfall several feet away. Rolling back to his feet, Tai laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry Matt, Kodi. I didn't see you guys there."   
"Obviously," Kodi replied dryly, setting her book in Matt's lap and rising. "But it's okay. No harm, no foul. See?" She raised her arms and turned slowly. "No damage." From the corner of her eye, she noticed Matt's jaw clenching, and a warning bell rang in her head. "Anyways, I'd better get that before it rusts."   
"Huh?" Tai looked confused unti Kodi trotted to the small indentation that marked where the harmonica had sunk. Grimacing as she inserted her hand into the snow, she rooted around until her hand touched a cold, hard object. She frowned. It didn't feel like a harmonica, and as she drew it from the snow, it certainly didn't look like a harmonica. Curiously, she studied it. It was sky blue and white, round and just a little smaller than her palm, with a belt clip on the back and a blank screen on the front. "Hmm. I guess some kid lost their Tamagotchi," she said thoughtfully, then shrugged and clipped it onto her jeans. "I guess I'll give it into the lost and found."   
She plunged her hand back into the snow and quickly found Matt's new harmonica. She walked back to the tree, brushing residual water from the metal before handing it back to Matt, then grinned at Tai. "Now, try not to knock it out of his hand again, okay Taichi?" she said teasingly. "It _is_ new after all."   
Tai looked sheepish again. "I'm sorry, Koden," he apologized. "I guess I'm just a klutz, ne?"   
A snowball erupted in his face. Kodi looked at Matt in shock. He was grinning smugly and dusting snow off his gloves. "I guess you are, Tai," he agreed. "You can't even stay out of the way of a single snowball. Tsk tsk tsk."   
A competitive gleam lit in Tai's eyes then, and he looked over at Kodi. "Wanna be on my team?" he asked enticingly. Kodi laughingly backed out of the way. "No way," she replied, shaking her hands. "I'm staying out of this one."   
"Your loss," he responded, and bent to scoop up a handful of snow to form into a sphere. His grin faded after a moment of rolling, and he blinked. "Huh? What's this?" He picked a small, rounded item from the snowball in his hand and held it aloft. Kodi did a double take. Save only for the colors, it was identical to the one she had found only a few moments ago.   
"Dunno," she said, reaching to her side to unclip the device. "But I found one too, just back there."   
"That makes three of us," Matt admitted, and extended his hand so the other two could see the third lying in his palm.   
Kodi frowned. Something about this wasn't quite right, but she couldn't say what. "I figured some kid lost their virtual pet," she said uncertainly, looking down at the thing. "Now I'm not so sure."   
Matt looked thoughtful, but whatever he was about to say, if anything, was interrupted by a sudden flash of white light and a stomach-turning lurch of movement. *** *** 

Pain. She knew blinding, agonizing pain. One moment, she had been...where? Falling through a world of softness, a realm of white feathers falling like snow in June. The light had been beckoning her on, urging her to come to her destiny. Something furry had touched her hand, and a chain had been slipped over her head. And then...and then, the darkness had hit her.   
Ripped, yanked....viciously torn away from the light, sent spinning into this universe of agony, this universe of hate and anger and fear. A voiceless scream tore from her throat, to echo unanswered in the everlasting night. Who was she? The pain had driven everything from her mind. Who was she?   
"Angel," a voice purred in her ear. "You are Dark Angel."   
"Dark Angel," she repeated to herself, still spinning endlessly in the voided-out universe. She closed her eyes and said the name again. It felt odd, like it belonged to her and yet it didn't. Angel, Dark Angel. Right, and wrong.   
"Open your eyes, Angel," that same voice said worriedly. "You're here now, you're fine. We're together, as it was meant to be."   
"Yes," she murmured, and the pain began to ebb. The void swirled and became a universe of stars which gradually receded themselves until they were no more than pinpoints above treetops. With a start, she realized she was lying sprawled on grass, staring up at the night sky. A velvety hand helped her to sit up, and she leaned back against something sturdy, pressing one hand against her face. "Where am I?" she groaned.   
"You're here, with me," the voice said soothingly from the vicinity of her chest. She opened her eyes and met the unblinking amber gaze of a small cat-like creature. Her first instinct was to recoil from the unnatural thing, but she quelled it ruthlessly. She was not one to run away from things, somehow she knew that. Whatever this was, she would deal with it.   
"Who...who are you?" she asked, her voice coming out disgustingly weak. Her hand flew to her head again where she could feel the beginnings of a migraine headache starting. "How did I get here? And who _am_ I?"   
The cat-thing's eyes gleamed up hopefully at her. "I'm Pumamon, your partner," she -- somehow Angel knew the thing was a female -- said nervously. "We both got here at the same time; you were called at the same time I was. I'm not exactly sure where _here_ is exactly, but don't worry. I'll protect you."   
"You'll protect me and you don't know where we are?" Like the weakness, she couldn't quite stop the hysteria.   
Pumamon rumbled in feline laughter. "I wouldn't be able to point it out on a map," she explained, "but I know we're still in the digital world. Very few things change from one place to another for a digimon."   
The headache began to deepen, and Angel rubbed her head futilely, wishing for some painkillers. "Digimon? The digital world?" She shook her head in confusion. "I'm afraid I don't understand."   
Suddenly a low voice slid out of the darkness. "That's understandable," it said, and a tall, dark, mask-wearing man emerged from a patch of shadow underneath a copse of trees. "Something happened to you in transit, and you lost your memory. But don't worry, child. It'll return in time. You aren't the only one to arrive in this state."   
_Pound pound pound._ "I'm sorry," Angel said miserably. "I'm afraid I don't understand any of this, who you are, who this is," here she indicated Pumamon, "or where I am. Plus my head is killing me."   
"You poor dear." Sympathy oozed from the tall man like oil. He flared his cloak and swept a low bow. "I am Myotismon, your humble servant. You are Dark Angel, the leader of the Digidark, the sworn protectors of this land from the horrible acts of the Digidestined." He paused, and his smile revealled vampire fangs. "But perhaps you'd like to rest, perhaps regain some of your memory?"   
Angel hesitated only an instant, staring up at Myotismon before rising to her feet and indicating to Pumamon that she should follow along. "Yes," the girl murmured. "That might be best after all."

******


End file.
